Assembly Paid Out $103K To Lopez Accuser

Following Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s censure last week for sexually harassing two female staffers, the New York Times reported Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had “quietly” settled at least one other complaint against the powerful Brooklyn Democrat, using an undetermined amount of taxpayer dollars to do so.

Asked for details about the settlement, the Assembly speaker’s office was initially mum. But I just received the voucher for $103,080 that appears below.

A Silver spokesman said the majority had searched its records and found just one document that refers to a payment of a settlement agreement. This is it.

Silver spokesman Michael Whyland said he could not discuss the details of the payment, but reiterated:

“The Assembly refers all charges of sexual harassment directly to the ethics committee. When complaints were made against Assemblymember Lopez in July they were immediately referred to the committee, which conducted a thorough investigation, culminating in the Speaker’s action on Friday.”

“The only instance in which a complaint would not be handled by the ethics committee would be if a victim insisted for reasons of personal privacy that it not go before the committee. The Assembly would only keep such a matter confidential at the express insistence of the victim.”

As far as I can tell, there were three accusers. One did not want to go through the ethics committee process, choosing to go the settlement route instead. The date of this payment – early June – corresponds with the timeline provided by Silver’s office on the accusations lodged against Lopez with the committee. It took about three weeks for the bipartisan committee members to recommend taking action.

A settlement theoretically could include an agreement not to file charges against Lopez or discuss the allegations against him, which would explain why Silver’s office isn’t discussing this voucher in detail.

The two accusers who did choose to file complaints with the ethics committee have retained counsel. The attorney is reportedly weighing whether to sue Lopez and/or the Assembly.

Excellent post. If the sistah is happy, which she must be since she settled, then I’m happy.

Vito has screwed the whole damn Assembly with the mess he created. Hopefully, the rest of this will be resolved ASAP. Pay the ladies and get it over with. There’s absolutely NO upside to having the sordid specifics plastered all over the news.

Geez. Between Vito and Shirley Huntley, we’re really ending the summer with a bang. Excelsior!

http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com VJ Machiavelli

This scandal is growing by the second, and paying tax dollars to settle a claim and hiding it.

Speaker Silver needs to RESIGN along with Vito Lopez Tanic.

If these elected officials were Republicans they would be hounded out of office by the Media and BusterBrown and her fellow ILK

Silver has to GO NOW.

Before there was the “Oracle of Delphi” there was Count Vampire J. Machiavelli

Say what?? Silver paid out more than $100k of taxpayer dollars to cover up a sexual harassment charge against Lopez!! If anything, this money should have come from the Democratic party, or the Shirley Huntley Defense Fund.
Lopez should be removed from office, and Silver needs to resign. Silver has a long history of being tone-deaf when it comes to the sexual misdeeds of legislators and their staffs. In particular, he is blind to workplace harassment and predatory behavior toward interns. Silver must go.
Needless to say, if these were GOP shenanigans, the NYT and other media would be screaming for heads to roll; instead we have business as usual in Albany, and Shelly sits safe on his throne.

Sheldon Skelos

Silver is a political sociopath whose only concern is being Speaker of the Assembly. That’s what most people do not understand. He will do anything or not do anything that will upset the conference, especially minority members. He receives his taxpayer funded salary and leadership stipend plus the law firm cash to block tort reform. He does quite well for a minor amount of work.

It’s all about remaining speaker….get with the program. Until he is removed by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats or is defeated on election day or is led away in handcuffs or has a heart attack and drops, we are stuck with him.